Dr. Santosh Chandra Agarwal

The skin on your body is an important organ which also has many important functions such as regulating the body temperature through perspiration, allowing you to touch and feel the world around us. The skin is a supple organ with folds and variations and different levels of thickness. To maintain its health, it is very important to keep it properly hydrated. Let’s look at a few ways that can be done naturally:

1. Moisturize: This is an important step that many don’t follow and it is a very important part of skin care. Moisturizing is necessary in both dry and wet climates. What you need to be aware of is to change the type of moisturizer from season to season. It is better to moisturize with a lighter lotion and less often during summers while the winters would require a heavier lotion with increased frequency.
2. Use humidifiers during the dry seasons: Many people may miss this trick, but it is a good idea to run a humidifier within the room during the dry seasons as it helps you to breathe better as well as keeps your skin hydrated. Also, when sleeping in air conditioned rooms, it is a good idea to run a humidifier to ensure that the cold air doesn’t dehydrate your skin.
3. Stop taking hot showers for too long: This is another common reason for dry skin. Taking hot showers for extended periods of time will rob your skin of its natural moisturizers and result in dry, scaly skin. Too long and hot showers will strip the skin of its essential oils and thus result in it becoming scaly and dry. Preferably, take shorter and colder showers.
4. Change lifestyle habits: One of the greatest disruptors of skin health are bad habits, such as smoking, drinking excessive alcohol and sun damage. Ensure that you have enough protection from the sun to stop sun damage. Smoking and alcohol both dry out our skin and thus result in you looking older as well as developing more wrinkles. Give up smoking and try to limit alcohol consumption to limited quantities.
5. Exercise: Many of the skin related woes occur due to the lack of physical movement, which results in underlying conditions. These underlying conditions may not only cause the skin quality to deteriorate, but will also result in it being dry. It is important to exercise to keep the internal regulatory systems in best condition and keep the skin hydrated.

If you wish to discuss about any specific skin related problem, you can consult a specilized dermatologist and ask a free question.